It was an unusual sight, seeing Steven Adams engage in some on-court trash-talking last night against the Clippers. After a brief tangle with Chris Paul, Adams had some words, and then moved on.

“That wasn’t nothing big,” Adams said Thursday. “He just slapped me in the face and I said, ‘Can you please apologize for that.’ That’s all it was. I was just kind of upset about it and he said he was sorry, so yeah, we’re still good friends.”

In all the incidents Adams has been involved in, the common theme is his remarkable stoicism. He takes elbows, punches, grabs and whatever else, and just ignores them like a cyborg and moves on about his business.

But he shared some insight into the game of smack-talk, and who the best at it is: Keep Reading…

Jenni Carlson: “The truth is, Durant could be way more likely to stay with the Thunder because of the way Westbrook is playing. Getting to play alongside prime-of-his-career, playing-out-of-his-mind Westbrook? Most guys would sign up for that. The Thunder may lose Durant in the summer of 2016, but it isn’t going to give him up willingly. Presti said it, but after Wednesday night, we were reminded that Westbrook might just do anything to keep Durant here. Westbrook won’t just hug him. He will grab onto Durant’s legs and hold on for dear life.”

Arash Markazi of ESPN LA: “Not only have the Clippers won nine of their past 13 games without Blake Griffin, they’ve also collected signature wins over Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Memphis, Chicago and Oklahoma City. During that stretch, Paul has led the NBA in creating 48.9 percent of the Clippers’ points either by scoring or assisting on a score. The Clippers also score a team-high 113.8 points per 100 possessions when Paul is on the floor, compared to a team-low 97.2 points per 100 possessions when he is on the bench. He is the most valuable player on one of the best teams in the league, but you’ll likely be hard-pressed to find him on many MVP ballots at the end of the season.” Keep Reading…

IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY, the Thunder would miss the postseason. But good news! The season does not end today. There are still 18 games left.

No question Wednesday’s loss to the Clippers was ugly. Disappointing. Frustrating. Especially if you thought the Thunder were going to finish out the season on a 19-game win streak. Then you’re probably really mad about this.

The general summary of the game is simple: The Thunder’s played crap defense, Russell Westbrook looked moderately human, and Chris Paul was sensational. Keep Reading…

This game would be a whole lot more fun if the likes of Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin were playing, but we will still be treated to a matchup of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook. Paul was questionable for tonight’s game with a bothersome left knee but he will play. His reward: facing off against the force of nature that is Westbrook, recent Player of the Week and Month honoree. Better use lots of Kinesio Tape, Chris. Keep Reading…

Phil Taylor of SI.com in a roundtable picking MVP: “Curry has been just as instrumental to the Warriors’ success as Harden has been to Houston’s, and the Warriors have the better record. LeBron James has made an impressive late charge, but he seemed strangely lethargic early in the season, and the other candidates have been on their games from day one. Russell Westbrook has been dynamic, but he’s only managed to keep OKC’s head above water. I wouldn’t protest if any of the four of them won, but I have Curry just slightly ahead of the pack.”

Paul Flannery of SB Nation on coaches: “I always laugh during the NCAAs when pundits get on their, ‘OLE JIMMY JOE CAN REALLY COACH ‘EM UP’ tangents because Coach Jimmy pulled out a 1-3-1 trap or something. There is so much coaching in the NBA these days that when someone is even a little bit unprepared, they get exposed badly. But what makes a good NBA coach? Are there specific personal traits or strategies that we look for when making our assessments? It can’t just be results, because Scott Brooks would be a genius.” Keep Reading…

Since the Week in Review has quickly become “Westbrook in Review,” I decided I needed to open up the thesaurus to try to find some fresh words to describe Russell’s latest week of domination. Suffice to say, I have a new list of words to illustrate Westbrook’s exhilarating play, and you, the reader, will get the benefit of enjoying my expanded vocabulary.

But in all seriousness, Westbrook has been phenomenal, as epitomized by the vast number of triple doubles he’s accumulated (for the record, I think I’m going to start referring to triple doubles as triple-Russells). There have been 30 triple-Russells in the NBA this season, and 23 percent of them were accomplished by Russell Westbrook. He has more than James Harden, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Kyrie Irving, and Damien Lilliard COMBINED (side note, the total number of triple-Russells of that group is 3, all by James Harden). Keep Reading…

Rob Mahoney of SI.com on Westbrook: “For too long, every Westbrook shot attempt has been regarded as one that Durant could have taken. Hopefully the evidence of this past month and a complete, brilliant season in all help to show the error of that characterization. Balance between the two stars is crucial, but Westbrook is an offense unto himself. He leads the league in per-game scoring and assist percentage, doing everything for the Thunder not only because he can but because he should. Some calibration will be in order once Durant returns for the stretch run. Yet in a broader sense, Westbrook and his evident greatness are immutable. His approach might tweak or turn slightly, but there’s no stepping back from his success at full blast.”

Berry Tramel on the schedule: “A standard way to look at schedule is this. A team the caliber of the Thunder should win every home game against losing teams, at least three fourths of its home games against winning teams, at least half its road games against losing teams and at least a quarter of its road games against winning teams. If the Thunder follows that standard, it should finish no worse than 13-6, which would give OKC a final record of 48-34. If New Orleans follows that standard, 11-8 seems likely, which would put the Pelicans at 45-37.” Keep Reading…